My Foundations of Education

1. Equality of Oppurtunity

1.1. The academic achievement of students from different backgrounds is an important aspect of sociological research on education.

1.1.1. Students with Special Needs: Appropriate Placement of students with special needs.

1.1.1.1. Parents argued that their children were often treated as invisible and not given appropriate services, or in some cases, excluded entirely.

1.1.1.1.1. 1975- Education of All Handicapped Children Law (EHA).

1.2. Coleman Study (1982): More than 40 years after Coleman's Equality of Educational Outcome was published, Borman and Dowling applied their own tools to evaluate the educational data.

1.2.1. In 1982, Between public and private school sophomores, there was not one subject that test scores were higher for the public school students. So Coleman believes that differences among schools do make a difference. He thinks private schools were more effective learning environments because they place more emphasis on academic activities.

1.2.1.1. So when Borman and Bowling did their research, they concluded, that going to a high poverty school or highly segregated African-American school, you will have more of a profound effect on student's achievement outcomes.

1.2.1.1.1. Where an individual goes to school is often related to her race and socioeconomic background, but the racial and socioeconomic composition of the school has a greater effect on student achievement than an individuals race and class.

2. Curriculum and Pedagogy

2.1. Pedagogical Progressivism: this stressed the relationship between schooling and the activities of adults within society.

2.1.1. the school curriculum was tailored to prepare students for these diverse places in society.

2.2. Modern Functionalist Theory: stressed the role of the schools in preparing students for the increasingly complex roles required in a modern society.

2.2.1. school curriculum is designed to enable students to function with in this type of society.

2.2.1.1. Teaching general cognitive skills, functionalists believe that schools teach the general values and norms essential to a modern society.

2.2.1.1.1. Modern society is one where individuals are rewarded based on achievement and competence.

3. Schools as Organizations

3.1. State Senator: Bussman

3.1.1. State Superintendent: Bice

3.1.1.1. Local Superintindent: Greg Pendley

3.1.1.1.1. Local School Board: Ellen Oliver

4. Philosophy of Education

4.1. Realism

4.1.1. Goal of Education: Both Plato and Aristotle belived that important questions concerning such notions as the good life, truth, beauty, and so on could be answered through the study of ideas, using the dialectical method.

4.1.1.1. Plato emphasized only the study of ideas to understand ideas. Aristotle believed that it was possible to understand ideas through studying the world of matter.

4.1.1.1.1. The goal of education is to help individuals understand and then apply the principles of science to help solve the problems plaguing the modern world.

4.2. Role of the Teacher: Teachers should have a solid grounding in science, mathematics, and the humanities.

4.2.1. Teachers must present ideas i n a clear and consistent manner, and demonstrate that there are definitive ways to judge works of art, music, poetry, and literature.

4.2.1.1. It is the role of the teacher to enable students to learn objective methods of evaluating such works.

4.3. Methods of Instruction: Lecture and question and answer are two of the main types of instruction.

4.3.1. The support the lecture method in order to give students the knowledge necessary to make evaluations.

4.3.1.1. They support competency based assessment as a way of ensuring that students learn what they are being taught,

4.3.1.1.1. They also encourage questions that would help students in the classroom grasp the ideal through specific characteristics of particular manifestation.

4.4. Curriculum: Back-to-the-Basics!

4.4.1. Science and math, reading and writing, and the humanities.

4.4.1.1. there is a body of knowledge that is essential for the student to master in order to be part of society.

4.5. Main People: E.D. Hirsch, Diane Ravitch, Chester Finn and Paul Gagnon

5. Educational Inequality

5.1. Unequal Educational Achievement: Functionalists believe that the role of schools is to provide a fair and meritocratic selection process for sorting out the best and brightest individuals, regardless of family background.

5.1.1. Vision: individual talent and hard work based on universal principles of evaluation are more important than characteristics based on particular methods of evaluations.

5.1.1.1. Expect: Schooling process will produce unequal results but these results should be based on individual differences between students not on group differences.

5.1.1.1.1. It is imperative to understand the sources of educational inequality so as to ensure the elimination of structural barriers to educational success and to provide all groups a fair chance to compete in the educational marketplace.

5.2. School Financing: Public schools are financed through a combination of revenues from local, state and federal sources.

5.2.1. The majority of funds come form state and local taxes, with local property taxes a significant source.

5.2.1.1. Since property taxes are significantly higher in more affluent communities, these communities are able to raise ALOT more money for schools through property taxes. Poorer communities do not have this higher tax.

6. Educational Reform

6.1. School-to-Work Programs: 1990's school-business partnerships became incorporated into school-to-work programs.

6.1.1. Intent: to extend what had been a vocational emphasis to non-college-bound students regarding skills necessary for successful employment and the stress the importance of work-based learning.

6.1.1.1. May 4, 1994; Bill Clinton signed the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994.

6.1.1.1.1. This law provided seed money to states and local partnerships of business, labor, government, education and community organizations to develop school-to-work systems.

6.2. There appears to be no standard method of imposing or implementing state control of local school districts, and there appears to be no standard method of returning control to local authorities.

6.2.1. There are many Advantages and Disadvantages for this Page 536

7. Politics of Education

7.1. The Liberal Perspective: Started in the 20th century in the works of John Dewey. (1880s-1930s) During the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

7.1.1. Believes that if the free market is left unregulated, it is prone to significant abuses, particularly to those who are disadvantaged economically and politically.

7.1.1.1. believes the capitalist market economy is prone to cycles of recession that must be addressed through government intervention.

7.1.1.1.1. Insists that government involvement in the economic, political, and social arenas is necessary to ensure fair treatment of all citizens and to ensure a healthy economy.

7.2. Educational Problems: Some arguments that arise are: 1. schools have often limited the chances that the poor and minority children receive so this issue makes the underachievement a critical issue.

7.2.1. 2. Schools place to much emphasis on discipline and authority which limits their role in helping students develop.

7.2.1.1. 3. The difference between low socioeconomic schools and high socioeconomic schools.

7.3. The Role of the School: stresses the training and socializing function of the school.

7.3.1. stresses the schools role in providing the necessary education to ensure that all students have more of an opportunity to succeed in society.

7.3.1.1. Socializing children is also a big role, respect cultural diversity so that they understand and fit into a diverse society.

7.3.1.1.1. stress the importance of citizenship and participation in a democratic society and the need for an educated citizen.

7.4. Education Policy and Reform: Liberals support the following: 1. Quality with Equality

7.4.1. 2. Policies should lead to the improvement of failing schools.

7.4.1.1. 3. Programs should enhance equality of opportunity for disadvantaged groups.(Head Start)

7.4.1.1.1. 4. curriculum should be balanced.

7.5. Education and the American Dream: more concerned with the social and political points of schooling than the economic.

7.5.1. Schools have been successful in extending public education to many different people and provides more mobility than any other system in the world.

7.5.1.1. Individual achievement is more important than one's family background, a society is more just and humane and a society where others who are different is an important value.

7.5.1.1.1. liberals argue that the educational system has been an imperfect panacea and has yet to provide sufficient access, opportunity, and success for all citizens, and this needs to improve!

7.6. Traditional: Tend to view schools as necessary to the transmission of the traditional values of U.S. society such as: hard work, family unity, individual initiative.

7.6.1. believe the schools should pass on the best of what was and what is.

7.6.1.1. Visions encompass the right liberal to the conservative spectrums.

8. History of U.S. Education

8.1. The struggle for free public education was led by Horace Mann of Massachusetts.

8.1.1. The first state school or teacher training school was established in Lexington, Massachusetts in 1839.

8.1.1.1. Mann thought we needed public schools for stability and order and the concerns of social mobility.

8.1.1.1.1. Liberal conservatives view Mann as one of Americas greatest educational reformers.

8.2. The different interpretations of U.S. educational history revolve around the tensions between equity and excellence, between the social and intellectual functions of schooling.

8.2.1. Democratic Liberals believe that the history of U.S. education involves the progressive evolution, albeit flawed, of a school system committed to providing equality of opportunity for all.

8.2.1.1. Expansion of Opportunity and Purpose

9. Sociological Perspectives

9.1. Schools- as well as parents, churches and synagogues, and other groups - shape children's perceptions of the world by process of Socialization.

9.1.1. Socialization is the values, beliefs and norms of society are internalized within children so that they come to think and act like other members of society. This could be such a simple ritual as the Pledge of Allegience.

9.1.1.1. Socialization processes can shape children's consciousness profoundly

9.1.1.1.1. Schools are tracking, academically stratify students by curricular placement, which influences the long-term social, economic, and cultural destinies of children.

9.2. A good definition of theory is "an integration of all known principles, laws, and information pertaining to a specific area of study.

9.2.1. One's best conceptual guide to understanding the relation between school and society because it gives one the intellectual scaffolding from which to hang empirical findings.

9.2.1.1. There are three major theories about the relation between school and society: functional, conflict, and interactional.

9.3. It is found that the higher the social class background of the student, the higher his or her achievement level.

9.3.1. Civil Religion: an abiding faith among most Americans that education is the great equalizer in the "great status race"